Three Home Building ‘Must-Do’ Steps Before You Start

Home building is a serious business with unsavoury implications if you get it wrong. Which is why there are three steps you need to consider before you start.

Designing your home from the ground up is an amazing experience. It’s also sure to be stressful. There’s more to consider than you could imagine, and the cost will be enormous. Even so, if you’ve got the time and money to put into the project, you’ll never regret it.

Have you been considering the option of home building but not made up your mind yet? I’ve got some tips about steps you may not have considered. Bearing in mind that these will only be the start of your journey!

DESIGN

Before you start home building, think about the design you want. Without that, you won’t have anything with which to work. Start sketching ideas. You’re likely to have some thoughts of what your dream home would look like. Clip images from magazines, create a Pinterest mood board of ideas, check out Houzz, or scour Instagram for inspiration. The sooner you start, the faster the actual work can begin.

If you’re not sure where to start, it pays to get a company like Baker Kavanagh Architectson board. They can help you with the initial sketches and planning stages. This added support will take a weight off your mind. It’ll also ensure you don’t forget anything crucial. You don’t want to end up without a bathroom or a door in a weird place because you failed to consider it in the early stages!

LAYOUT

While you’re considering home building design, you may come across the problem of layout. The layout, or flow, of a home isn’t something many of us consider in detail. That’s because we don’t need to! We move into ready-made houses that are laid out and ready to go. When you have the layout of your home in your power, it can seem overwhelming. How do you know where you want the bedroom to go? It doesn’t matter as long as it’s there, right? Wrong!

The layout is one of the most important considerations you’ll put into your home building. Make the most of the power that comes with building your own home by taking control of the layout. Think about where the perfect position for each room would be. Reflect on whether you want your space open plan, or blocked off. Don’t let anything escape your attention! Once work starts, it’ll be much harder to change things. Get it right from the design stage.

Consider how your home flows. Do you require a parents retreat away from children? Is the kitchen the hub of the home? Where will you position a powder room, guest bathroom, children’s bathrooms and en-suite for the best flow of traffic? From where does the most, and least, natural light emanate?

Also consider the size and positioning of your furniture in relation to flow. If you desire double doors into your lounge or media room, you don’t want them to bump into furniture when they are opened. And you don’t want to move around furniture when walking, you want clear pathways.

Don’t let anything escape your attention! Once work starts, it’ll be much harder to change things. Get it right from the design stage.

APPLIANCES

As well as the technical issues of design and layout, you’ll need to consider appliances. Now is the perfect time to create a lighting plan to ensure your home is lit fit-for-purpose. For example, you need adequate lights for cooking, study and makeup application. However, you may need dimmers or softer lighting for a dining room, media room, or bedroom.

You’ll also need to consider where you would like your electrical sockets, and how many you want. Again, it’ll amaze you how many considerations there are to make. These may seem like small issues, but when you are home building from scratch they’re worth paying attention to.

Personal Tip: People rarely put electrical sockets in hallways. These are hugely useful if you want a hall table with a lamp and for the vacumn cleaner. I learnt that one the hard way; long hallway, no sockets.

Don’t forget your kitchen appliances, both big and small. You’ll need to have specific sections for those, too! For example, if you love to cook and use equipment you’ll need sockets close to prep areas. You’ll also value a storage area to keep them out of view when not in use.

The bathroom requires careful planning to make the best use of space. Consider adequate storage (and then add some more), and how many sockets you need, and where, for hair dryers, shavers, electric toothbrushes, etc. Do you need single or twin basins? Will the toilet be separate? When you consider the use of the room you can then consider the necessary appliances.

When you consider the use of the room you can then consider the necessary appliances.

Home building can be a joyful and creative process. It can also be a nightmare. Choose the joyful path by planning very well and seeking the advice of experts.